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Typeminer
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Re: More Stuff

Post by Typeminer »

Very much enjoyed the cold-weather bike gear report, L_W. I always found that the heater on the bike works just fine, within reason, but bike helmets ventilate too well when it's at all cold. So I have rarely tried to ride at freezing temperatures.

Part of it is that I live in town and ride a road bike, and I don't want to be anywhere near ice or potholes with those tires. Made me nervous enough to cross the old mesh-deck bridges after a light rain.
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GlytchMeister
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Re: More Stuff

Post by GlytchMeister »

Heh. I have never nor will I ever own a road bike. Too many potholes and such here on all but the best roads. I just use a mountain bike.
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TazManiac
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Re: More Stuff

Post by TazManiac »

Phooey- Hybrid is the way to go; Part Road, Part Off-Road.

27"/700 rims (hopefully I'm going to upgrade to double hull'd versions this year) w/ 'thorn resistant' tubes inflated to near on 100psi.
Rack on the back w/ bungees at the ready, front forks have shocks but hey, they came w/ the frame so whatsenever...

It's a pretty hefty, but light for it's size, Rocky Mountain frame. I like to bomb around the Urban Jungle like a bicycle messenger and bring home what ever wildebeest I come across so nimbleness is constantly fighting with durability for primacy of place.

Come spring-time I'm going to crack open the bottom bracket and the wheel axles and clean n' repack w/ marine bearing grease...
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Dave
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Re: More Stuff

Post by Dave »

Was woken up at around 0230 by everything rattling and shaking. Turns out there was a 4.4 earthquake centered in Berkeley, about 40 miles from here... the whole Bay area felt it, according to reports on the USGS website.

Hope this wasn't a bad omen for the project review I have to present at lunchtime today... though I suspect not. Now, if I had just finished saying something about the project risks being manageable, and the room had shaken... :(
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Just Old Al
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Re: More Stuff

Post by Just Old Al »

I am not one to normally talk about the weather, but it is not-funny here today.

The coast is flooding due to a combination of the high tide and the storm surge from this rat bastard snowstorm, and 70+ knot winds near the coast - gusting to 50+ here.

Nearly a foot and a half of snow on the ground - and it's still coming down...sideways.

Making dinner now, then going to bundle up and go spend a few quality hours with Mr. Snowblower clearing the worst of it before the temperatures drop to zero.

Yep, I love New England...but not today.
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Catawampus
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Re: More Stuff

Post by Catawampus »

Yeah, here in this valley it's 3°F and winds steady around 20 mph, with a bit of ice and snow blowing around. It was a bit cooler up on the exposed slopes; I had to thaw out the ice covering my zipper so that I could get my coat off, and my scarf took a bit of prying as well. Where's Euryale and her thawing kisses when really needed?

People around here are getting a bit freaked out by the cold weather. The local paper even had its front page dedicated to "surviving in the ice and snow" tips. I've been through a lot worse so I'm not bothered myself, but it is somewhat extreme for the region and a lot of the locals aren't really sure how to handle it all.
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lake_wrangler
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Re: More Stuff

Post by lake_wrangler »

Typeminer wrote:Very much enjoyed the cold-weather bike gear report, L_W. I always found that the heater on the bike works just fine, within reason, but bike helmets ventilate too well when it's at all cold. So I have rarely tried to ride at freezing temperatures.

Part of it is that I live in town and ride a road bike, and I don't want to be anywhere near ice or potholes with those tires. Made me nervous enough to cross the old mesh-deck bridges after a light rain.

TazManiac wrote:Phooey- Hybrid is the way to go; Part Road, Part Off-Road.

27"/700 rims (hopefully I'm going to upgrade to double hull'd versions this year) w/ 'thorn resistant' tubes inflated to near on 100psi.
Rack on the back w/ bungees at the ready, front forks have shocks but hey, they came w/ the frame so whatsenever...

It's a pretty hefty, but light for it's size, Rocky Mountain frame. I like to bomb around the Urban Jungle like a bicycle messenger and bring home what ever wildebeest I come across so nimbleness is constantly fighting with durability for primacy of place.

Come spring-time I'm going to crack open the bottom bracket and the wheel axles and clean n' repack w/ marine bearing grease...
Mine is a cyclotouring bike (looks like a road bike, with drop handlebars, but has more in common with hybrids: larger tires - 4cm, in my case - , heavier frame - steel, in my case, luggage rack(s), etc). I have made some modifications to it, to accommodate winter conditions, such as a home-made cover over the disk brake mechanism, to prevent road salt from seizing it, as had happened one year, and covers over the handlebars, as mentioned previously..

Here are some photos:

I used to ride with a Tuque under the helmet, a face mask (made from an old knit sweater from my work uniform, same as the tuque) and a ski mask, when it was particularly cold. Less cold, I would wear sunglasses instead of the mask, and the other face mask I had made, which did not have a nose piece...
20140102_08-10-29_IMG_4119_SM.JPG
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Here, you can see how my hands are covered on the handlebars, and get a decent view of the helmet cover. This was a ride I took with someone to go cross an ice bridge near Montreal. My bike is outfitted with studded tires, like these.
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Here's a photo at the end of the day. You can see the helmet cover better, including the section below it, made from the collar of the former winter coat, which now covers the ears and the back of the head:
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20150307_20-37-26_IMG_3650_SM.JPG (111.4 KiB) Viewed 6604 times
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lake_wrangler
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Re: More Stuff

Post by lake_wrangler »

My partner in crime and I, on that ride to the ice bridge:
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A better view of the handlebar cover. Attached via velcro, it merely cuts down on the wind. I have improved it slightly since then, but the principle remains the same. That day, I wore my wool gloves inside those leather gloves, and the leather glove was soaked in sweat by the end of the day. I probably could have done without the wool gloves inside.
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And here is my favorite frosted beard photo:
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Fun times, fun times... :D
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AnotherFairportfan
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Re: More Stuff

Post by AnotherFairportfan »

Back in the early 70s, here in Atlanta, i used to ride my ten-speed in 20F and lower weather - my Navy pea coat over a hooded sweatshirt over a t-shirt, and my Navy fur-lined gloves.

Wasn't bad at all.
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TazManiac
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Re: More Stuff

Post by TazManiac »

Dave wrote:Was woken up at around 0230 by everything rattling and shaking. Turns out there was a 4.4 earthquake centered in Berkeley, about 40 miles from here... the whole Bay Area felt it, according to reports on the USGS website.

Hope this wasn't a bad omen for the project review I have to present at lunchtime today... though I suspect not. Now, if I had just finished saying something about the project risks being manageable, and the room had shaken... :(
Dave, it was near enough to be 2:40am on the dot; I was awake for the whole thing...

My buddy who is a Geography Major (yes, not Geolo, But Geogra) asked me if it "felt like this or it felt like that?" and based on my reply accurately spec'd it as the Hayward Fault line that had let loose... :o

(Hope yer presentation went well...)
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Dave
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Re: More Stuff

Post by Dave »

TazManiac wrote:My buddy who is a Geography Major (yes, not Geolo, But Geogra) asked me if it "felt like this or it felt like that?" and based on my reply accurately spec'd it as the Hayward Fault line that had let loose... :o

(Hope yer presentation went well...)
Yes, it did... we got the go-ahead for the project. No hard questions, just a few small issues we need to be aware of.

When the quake hit, my guess was the same... probably the Hayward or Calaveras fault, and probably some distance north or south of us. The direction of the first shock (the P-wave) was distinct enough that I was pretty sure it wasn't from a nearby part of the San Andreas... that's west and southwest of us here.

You probably got a pretty good rattling... if I recall correctly you're up fairly near the epicenter?
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lake_wrangler
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Re: More Stuff

Post by lake_wrangler »

Hayward's fault, Calaveras' fault, San Andreas' fault... What's with you anglophones and always blaming someone, for any and all earthquakes? :P

See, we French-speaking people are so much more civilized... We don't blame people for "faults", we just note the existence of cracks, or flaws, instead... But we're always polite over it, talking about "failles", instead... :mrgreen:
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lake_wrangler
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Re: More Stuff

Post by lake_wrangler »

Going back to winter biking, for a moment, this is the kind of boots I wear while riding:

Sorel boots
Sorel_Boot.png
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Alkarii
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Re: More Stuff

Post by Alkarii »

What I find kind of weird is that any time the New Madrid fault line acts up, the day after folks are like "we had an earthquake yesterday" or something like that, making a big deal about something that happened and just about nobody noticed.

I recall hearing about two, maybe three in this part of the country, and never once did I notice any of them, but the people who talk about it act like their house almost fell apart.

If I ever lived in an earthquake prone area (unlikely, as those areas seem to be anti-gun, and I own more than one), I'd probably not care as long as the house was still standing.

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Dave
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Re: More Stuff

Post by Dave »

Alkarii wrote:What I find kind of weird is that any time the New Madrid fault line acts up, the day after folks are like "we had an earthquake yesterday" or something like that, making a big deal about something that happened and just about nobody noticed.

I recall hearing about two, maybe three in this part of the country, and never once did I notice any of them, but the people who talk about it act like their house almost fell apart.

If I ever lived in an earthquake prone area (unlikely, as those areas seem to be anti-gun, and I own more than one), I'd probably not care as long as the house was still standing.

Plastic dishes, y'all!
Sorta suspect a few things going on there.

A lot of people think of earthquakes as "a California thing", and something they won't ever actually have to deal with. So, any deviation from that (no matter how small) seems to them to be a big variation from Normality, and they react strongly.

Also, one of the things we know about New Madrid is that quakes from it are probably infrequent, but (based on a very small sample) they can be huge, felt over a wide area, and extremely disruptive. The 1811-1812 quake sequence was devastating. The mechanism of that fault is poorly understood, and predictions for when the next one may occur are very fuzzy... but, as the Doctor said, "I think it's going to be a whopper." If it's as strong as the 1811-1812 sequence it could end up being the most expensive natural disaster in the nation's history, with a lot of people killed (for understandable reasons, earthquake-vulnerable structures are a lot more common east of the Rockies than they are along the left coast).

So, in the back of peoples' minds, is probably a constant low-level anxiety about "Does the little quiver I feel, mean that the whole south-central United States is going to be tossed into a Waring blender and turned into paste sometime in the next week?"
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Catawampus
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Re: More Stuff

Post by Catawampus »

lake_wrangler wrote:
Typeminer wrote:Part of it is that I live in town and ride a road bike, and I don't want to be anywhere near ice or potholes with those tires. Made me nervous enough to cross the old mesh-deck bridges after a light rain.
TazManiac wrote:Phooey- Hybrid is the way to go; Part Road, Part Off-Road.
Mine is a cyclotouring bike (looks like a road bike, with drop handlebars, but has more in common with hybrids: larger tires - 4cm, in my case - , heavier frame - steel, in my case, luggage rack(s), etc). I have made some modifications to it, to accommodate winter conditions, such as a home-made cover over the disk brake mechanism, to prevent road salt from seizing it, as had happened one year, and covers over the handlebars, as mentioned previously.
I have no idea what classification of bicycle mine is. It works fine on roads, I've used it on rough trails, I once took it straight down the side of one of the mountains here just to see what that was like (the answer: rather bumpy). It seems to handle snow well enough. Ice gets a bit trickier; maybe I can glue some thumbtacks to the tires.
Alkarii wrote:What I find kind of weird is that any time the New Madrid fault line acts up, the day after folks are like "we had an earthquake yesterday" or something like that, making a big deal about something that happened and just about nobody noticed.

I recall hearing about two, maybe three in this part of the country, and never once did I notice any of them, but the people who talk about it act like their house almost fell apart.
Part of it depends on where you are when it happens. Some buildings have foundations that dampen vibrations, others might have ones that amplify them. Or if you're driving down the road, you might not even notice a minor quake.
If I ever lived in an earthquake prone area (unlikely, as those areas seem to be anti-gun, and I own more than one), I'd probably not care as long as the house was still standing.

Plastic dishes, y'all!
Living in a place that's not prone to earthquakes can be even more dangerous, though, as fewer buildings are likely to be made with earthquake safety in mind, and local emergency responders may be dealing with such a problem for the first time ever.
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Dave
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Re: More Stuff

Post by Dave »

Catawampus wrote:Living in a place that's not prone to earthquakes can be even more dangerous, though, as fewer buildings are likely to be made with earthquake safety in mind, and local emergency responders may be dealing with such a problem for the first time ever.
+1.

It wasn't until after the Long Beach earthquake in 1933 that California really started taking earthquake-safe construction seriously, and began forbidding the building of new structures from non-reinforced masonry. Even today, though, there are still a lot of such structures in existence that have never been rebuilt or reinforced, and they're considered a serious safety issue during a major earthquake. Down in Pacific Grove, the main street has a bunch of beautiful old brick business buildings which predate 1933, and most of them now have warning signs alerting people to the fact that they could be unsafe to be in during a big quake.

There are surely a lot of such older brick buildings all across the eastern United States. Since 'quakes in that area tend to affect a much wider area than California quakes, one should expect a large number of building failures and collapses during a big quake.

The issue still exists in a smaller way even for more recent buildings. One of the biggest safety risks for a lot of homes in my area, is that most of them have brick chimneys build to older standards (1950-1970) that didn't require reinforcement. In a big quake they can topple, disintegrate, and dump hundreds of pounds of bricks right through the roof into the house. Even if this doesn't kill anyone, the building would probably be red-tagged as "uninhabitable until repaired". A couple of years ago I had a mason disassemble our chimney, brick by brick, down to well below the roof-line (down to the "shoulder" above the height of the fireplace), and then rebuild it to current code - rebar up each corner, rebar "rings" tying the corner rebar together, heavy straps that tie the rebar securely to the rafters and studs, and some concrete "fill" in the corner spaces around the rebar and the flue. It looks the same from outside (except cleaner and neater) but it's far more likely to hold together during a quake.
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AnotherFairportfan
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Re: More Stuff

Post by AnotherFairportfan »

New Madrid rang church bells in Charleston SC and caused the Mississippi to flow backward for a while and form Reelfoot Lake.

I don't know if it was responsible for the re-arrangement of the northern border of Kentucky out there, which leaves a small chunk of Kentucky physically separated from the rest of the state by a piece of Missouri, but that's where that is, and it's due to a loop in the river...
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TazManiac
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Re: More Stuff

Post by TazManiac »

More Stuff: 'Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head Edition-

http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/05/asia/chin ... index.html
China's Tiangong-1 space lab to plunge to Earth by March


I just hope Sandra Bullock makes it back by then...
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Dave
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Re: More Stuff

Post by Dave »

Ferexample... the 6.3 earthquake in Christchurch, NZ in 2011 knocked down the top of the cathedral tower (Gwen and I had climbed the stairs to the balcony when we were there the previous year). I fear we'll see a lot of similar things here in the U.S. after the New Madrid decides to wake up again in a big way (whenever that happens).

Before (when we were there, 5/2010):

Image

After (from Wikipedia Commons):

Image

Being under or near that, when it failed, would have spoiled your whole day.
TazManiac wrote:I just hope Sandra Bullock makes it back by then...
She can come back down via Tiangong-2, which is in a rather better condition and situation.
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